Public Safety

• The most obvious benefit of correctional facilities is their ability to keep behind bars those who do not play by society's rules. Many offenses, especially serious ones such as murder and rape, are punishable by lengthy prison sentences that serve to keep dangerous felons from becoming repeat offenders. With dangerous criminals secured in correctional facilities, the streets may be a little safer.
  
  

Jobs

• The vast number of prisoners has made it necessary to build hundreds of correctional facilities across the United States. As of June 2011, the US Bureau of Prisons housed more than 200,000 inmates in 116 federal institutions and even more community-based correctional facilities and jails. The sheer number of prisoners necessitates a large amount of staff, from corrections officers to prison nurses. The construction of correctional facilities guarantees the creation of potentially hundreds of new jobs. As the inmate population grows, even more jobs are created. The Bureau of Prisons alone, for example, employs nearly 40,000 workers.
  
  

Economic Growth

• The Corrections Corporation of America conducted a study in Arizona that showed a link between correctional facility construction and immense economic growth. As of Spring 2010, the "CCA communities"---Arizona communities in which a new correctional facility had been built---had seen astonishing increases in tax revenues and local spending. New jobs attracted workers, who injected more than $400 million into the local economies. Because correctional facilities will always be needed, their establishment will continue to spur economic growth. Workers support the local economy, which in turn attracts new businesses and even more new residents (and thus, more tax revenue).
  
  

Opportunities for Rehabilitation

• One argument against correctional facilities is that inmates mainly just get better at being criminals and become repeat offenders once released. However, correctional facilities always provide opportunities for rehabilitation. Many facilities offer educational opportunities, volunteer work, on-site employment, mentoring programs and early release for good behavior. Correctional facilities are meant for punishment, but inmates who choose to do so can take advantage of the programs available to change and choose a new route. Organizations such as The Salvation Army and Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants play a major role in encouraging and facilitating inmate rehabilitation, meaning that inmates are not totally dependent upon the government for re-entry into society.